The Explorer's Spirit

[Khazdim Ironhand]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone else notices a lack of the explorers spirit in EQ? I've played only a short time, and one of the things that captured me in EQ was the depth of the world. I don't level quickly, partly because I'm a Warrior and I'm finding it harder to solo now, and I don't really like power levelling. But I digress...

What I like to do most is explore each zone I encounter. I know a olot of zones like the back of my hand because I've explored each and every twist, turn and path that I can manage without getting slaughtered by aggressive mobs. (I do have some sense of self-preservation!)

It just seems to me that all people want to do is PL and join uber-guilds. I guess that's ok for them, but I like taking advantage of all the time the developers put into the environment and exploring for all it's worth.

Does this mean I'm going to cavort in areas where scowling red mobs are? Well, maybe in a group. But I still love going back to places where I once feared to tread and exploring the nooks and crannies.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else thought the EQ world was getting a little full of "zoomers".

[Ngreth Thergn]

that bothered me when LoY came out.

I was in Gunthak the day it came out, hanging for a while... and constantly "Where is the next zone?"

Come on!

#1 most people are also new and don't know
#2 It is new! go explore!!

[Heartsong_Steelsoul]

In regards to LoY, I have avoided the new zones simply because I assumed they're overcrowded still.

Regarding exploring in general: I can at least say that I try not to spend more than a level or two in any one zone, but that can be difficult at certain levels with a warrior...

[Sithro]

I'm not exactly the same as you. I explore while leveling. I usually walk into places I've never been to and search for things I can fight at my level. You should have seen my face the first time I had ever gone to Dawnshroud Peaks! :shock:

I had first gone there at lvl 24, and quickly realized I was way to low a level because no one wanted to group with me and all the people coned red to me. But the small glimpse I had gotten made me wanna go back! And now at lvl 29 I did just that!... And died 3 times! But aww heck. I know more about it then I did before. And the thing I had learned is never screw with the wolvs, cuz they can kill you even with sow. LOL

[Quinner Sparrowhawk]

I do like to explore zones too but the environment has a way of punishing the curious too harshly and losing one's corpse in an unknown zone really sucks. On the other hand, my guild has an informal zone mastery list. To be considered a master of a zone, one has to have killed every spawn in the zone at least once.

[Lilosh]

I do like to explore zones too but the environment has a way of punishing the curious too harshly and losing one's corpse in an unknown zone really sucks. On the other hand, my guild has an informal zone mastery list. To be considered a master of a zone, one has to have killed every spawn in the zone at least once.

I bet your guild has very very few Masters of Shadeweavers.

There is a NASTY fire elemental in the northwest corner of the zone, with more then a couple level 45-50 guards.

I dont have his name offhand, but while exploring, I found out something vital. Just because his guards con indifferent, doesnt mean that he is.

And when he attacks, they all join in. And, from what I have heard, he summons, and hits like a planar mob.

And before you guys think I did something stupid like pick a fight, just know that all I did was get within 20 feet of the bastid, and he jumped me.


Sufficed to say, I have the explorers spirit, and the bruises, scars, and rezzes to prove it.


Of course, it's easy to explore as a druid. A druid with PoP.



-Lilosh

[Delfontes]

I know more about it then I did before. And the thing I had learned is never screw with the wolvs, cuz they can kill you even with sow. LOL

Wolves can be outrun with Run1 just so you know, the ones in DSP at least. When I am going through DSP as my monk, I don't even stop for them anymore, I just call the wolf to zone, and only bother killing it if newbies are near the zoneline I am running to, usually ME.

Depending on class I just love this zone, I went from 30-40 with both characters in there, and still go back at 50+ for hoppers.

If you are 29, partner with a druid, maybe a rogue or monk for damage. The druid can snare/fear/dot (my 29 druid had a blast there), and everyone else can beat things from behind. If you do get a wolf add, they are fearable too .

With Rogue/Cleric/Druid lvl 29-33 we handily defeated Large Zelniaks and 2-3 wolf adds, some epic long fights that ended everyone OOM and low on health, but some of the funnest stuff I've done in ages

[Morani]

For those looking for more to explore, do what I did; look into the back story on the game. I'm in the process (admitedly slow process now) of trying to complile the largest source of VERIFIED world history. The intent is to create a web page for people to look things up, research, or just read from.

HOPEFULLY no one will mind but here's a bit of OLD story that comes from Brad BEFORE he was a "High Muckity" in Sony (and a great example of why I'm SOOOOOO looking forward to his game). I'm choosing this one because of the recent story released with LoY.

Enjoy

THE TROLL IMMIGRATION

Of Chief Nalikor and the end of the tribal wars:

In the middle of the third age, the tribes of Trakanon were all but completely destroyed. The wars had continued for a century or more and when the seven tribes began to finally die out, mostly from starvation and disease, the trolls moved completely to the north of the field of bone and away from the swamp of no hope, the spot of their creation, forever. There the starving tribe of chief Kateera and the desperate followers of chief Nalikor squared off in one final confrontation. Across the northern shores of Kunark raged a battle so terrible elven bards dare sing of it only in the dark hours of the night. Troll was pitted against troll in the end of a war that would prove what tribe would rule Kunark, and each tribe fought with the single goal of completely destroying the other. Slowly, the two tribes began to die. Trolls began to consume the flesh of slain enemies, as was the accepted custom of the tribe wars, but also the flesh of fallen comrades. In fits of madness, trollish warriors would attack their own tribesmen and then commit suicide. The fights degenerated into scenes of utter insanity as trollish warriors started attacking anyone around them, friend or foe, to eat whatever they killed and to steal whatever they could grab.

The two most unaffected by the insanity around them, being veterans of the tribe wars themselves, were the two chiefs: Kateera and Nalikor. Realizing that the battle they had begun would be the beginning of the end of the troll race, both leaders met face to face with a host of their most trusted warriors on what is named Nalikor's Mound by the ancient trollish texts with the simple intent of ending the war once and for all. Every text says Kateera was the one who issued the challenge, and some troll shamans describe Kateera as a foolish, rash young leader who could have never stood a chance against the older Nalikor. Others, however, say that Nalikor and Kateera entered in on an understanding that in order for the trolls to stop the war the young leader had to die. Either way, while the rest of the trollish camps settled down from the war if only for a brief rest under a new moon, the young chief Kateera was run through and beheaded by the old Nalikor. Rather then carry out trollish customs and consume the bodies of his enemies, Nalikor only took Kateera's head as proof of his victory, then buried the young chief and his fallen guards on top of the highest hill in the field of bone, the one most stained with blood. Here the old chief stacked the weapons of warriors that had been dead for centuries and the place was called Nalikor's Mound, a monument to the old tribes of Trakanon and the mark of a new age for the troll race. No one has reportedly seen the mound, but the texts speak of it as a horrible site: a small red mountain with spears and swords thrust through it, surrounded on all sides by the endless troll-skeletons which cover the field of bone. At it's top Nalikor set Kateera's severed head, grinning as it hung from a metal pike.

Of Trakanon's chosen and the fleet of bone:

The tribe of the now defeated Kateera surprisingly did not put up much of a resistance when they were told about the death of their leader and their loss in the war. For a week, the survivors of both tribes rejoiced in the end of centuries of warfare, feasting and dancing over the corpses of the dead, but many questions still remained unanswered and many problems were left unsolved. For decades troll shamans had prophecied that the tribe to win the wars would be given unimaginable riches and power by their dragon lord, but Trakanon never revealed himself to the last tribe even after the war was over. Kunark was now completely a blasted land and a graveyard. All the creatures were dead and the undrinkable rivers were red with blood. The tribe of Nalikor thought themselves the sole rulers of their continent, but their continent was left with nothing they could use to survive. When tensions started to rise again among members of the same tribe, Nalikor realized that his followers were ready once more to destroy themselves. Powerless and desperate, the old chief then decided to commit an act of trollish blasphemy: he would cross Trakanon's Teeth, steal his way into the jungle kingdom of the great dragon, and speak to the king of the trolls personally.

Many different stories are written about the month-long journey of Nalikor into the forbidden territory of his once-god Trakanon, but all have these few things in common: It is said that the old chief did actually meet the great dragon and that he told Trakanon all but one of the tribes had been killed. The ancient beast obviously admired the chief, as he awarded Nalikor with a magic blade and a key into his eternal kingdom, but the dragon also told Nalikor bluntly that he would give no aid to the trolls. It was then that Trakanon told Nalikor of the other continents and the other races, and that the chief could either lead his people away from Kunark or watch the last tribe die. Nalikor was especially outraged at the mention of more fruitful continents and the elder races, and it is speculated that the hostility trolls have towards all other Norrathians is spawned from this scorned jealousy, like a grown man emerging from a troubled childhood. When Nalikor returned to his tribe he found it in chaos, split among five different leaders each with different plans for Kunark. The old chief killed each would-be-leader quickly, his flaming sword easily cutting them down, and when word of Nalikor's new-found power spread the trolls once more united behind him and gave him the title "Trakanon's chosen."

The old chief told all four hundred of his remaining followers what Trakanon had told him, and quickly began to lay out the plan for an escape off their island-continent. With a very limited supply of natural resources, Nalikor and his men built a fleet of five massive ships entirely out of wood, steel, and the bones of dead trolls. With nothing left on Kunark, the trolls gladly boarded the fleet of bone, leaving behind them their entire culture of war and death, and sailed aimlessly for many weeks until coming to the broken skull rock off Antonica, in the middle of the gulf of Gunthak.

Of the Ogre attacks and the treaty of the burning blade:

Even before they had landed, the ogres of Oggok knew of the formidable and ivory ships sailing for their borders. Thinking they had something to fear from the mysterious troll fleet, which was landing next to the weakest part in the natural defense of Oggok, the ogres immediately gathered a large force of warriors to stop the trolls from advancing. To their complete surprise, the ogres found the strange trolls to almost be their exact equals in combat and the warriors were turned back by the massive tribe of Nalikor. Over the next few days, the ogres would continue their attacks on Nalikor's tribe. The fierce troll warriors, still homeless and starving, were able to fight off the ogres many more times but were only barely keeping Oggok at bay. The Greenblood river is named for the many trolls who died in it's waters as a result of ogre raids. Nalikor, not fully understanding the ogre race or these recent skurmishes, sent word of a treaty to Oggok. To the surprise of all the other races, king Gharn, the eighth warlord of the ogres, whole-heartedly agreed.

The ogres and trolls shared a mutual respect, as much a respect as members of those two races can possibly produce. The ogres saw the trolls as merciless warriors with strange powers, but with a harsh and warlike attitude the ogres found pleasing. The trolls, also, respected the strength and kill-or-be-killed ways of the ogre kingdom. Soon the two races found themselves fast allies. On the very place where Nalikor and his followers first landed, broken skull rock, the ogres and trolls signed an agreement that neither force would attack the other. Instead, the ogres would help the trolls establish a kingdom and routes of supplies on Antonica in exchange for troll military support and magical aid. To seal the kinship between ogre and troll, Nalikor gave his own magical blade as part of the arrangement. The sword is still kept on broken skull rock in that same secret meeting place, encased in a magical field of crystal. On it's surface is etched "Here the great alliance was formed between king Gharn the slayer and Trakanon's chosen. May death come to those who seek to disrupt it." Thus the alliance was called the treaty of the burning blade.

With the aid of the ogres, out of the ashes of the last tribe of Trakanon sprang forth a new kingdom for the trolls. Nalikor chose the edges of the Innothule Swamp for the trolls to live, which most closely resembled the place of their creation: the swamp of no hope on Kunark. The ogres taught the trolls how to hunt in their new land and how to build fortifications. Nalikor himself was deeply involved in creating the new hierarchy of the troll kingdom and ending the old tribal system of Trakanon, but he died before he could completely achieve his goal. His death resulted in many days of troll mourning, and the burial site of Trakanon's chosen was made the foundation of the new troll city of Grobb- named for Nalikor's successor and the first official king of the trolls. It is said that somewhere deep inside the temple depths of Grobb the trollish shamans still keep watch over Nalikor's key: the only remaining link between the trolls and the ancient kingdom of the dragon Trakanon.